Schattenspiel um Goethe

In the first act you are guided through the rain‑slicked streets of early‑19th‑century Weimar, where the sunlight on the market square glints like varnish and the old Cranach house burns in an amber glow. The narrator drifts past the Goethe House, the narrow Windisch street and the bustling Esplanade, catching whispered conversations of poets, officials and young women whose smiles flicker behind lace curtains. A quiet love unspoken lingers between the Kanzler Müller’s household and the two Egloffstein sisters, hinting at the tender, unfulfilled passions that colour the city’s intellectual pulse.

Interwoven with Dorothea Hauer’s delicate feather sketches, the story moves like a shadow play, letting the listener hear the rustle of papers in Goethe’s study and the clatter of Schiller’s cramped quarters where he wrestles with his next tragedy. The atmosphere feels both intimate and historic, inviting you to wander the cobblestones while the past murmurs its verses. As the streets breathe, the narrative pauses at the Wittumspalais, offering a glimpse of courtly intrigue without revealing what will come next.